Griffins dinged by Bulldogs in Hamilton

The Grand Rapids Griffins' ranks were bolstered by the returns of Garrett Stafford and Jimmy Howard on Wednesday, and their contributions in the Griffins' 5-3 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs were mixed: Stafford posted two assists and was named the game's third star, while Howard was pulled after giving up 5 goals on 24 shots:

February 27, Griffinshockey.com: - Daniel Corso (2-2--4) and Corey Locke (1-3--4) recorded four points each to lead the Hamilton Bulldogs to a 5-3 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday at Copps Coliseum.

Locke has been a menace this season, notching six goals and five assists against Grand Rapids (23-29-2-5). Hamilton (30-21-2-5) bolstered its case for second place in the North Division, while Grand Rapids remains in fifth place. The Griffins close their current three-game road trip against the Peoria Rivermen Friday at 8 p.m.

Carl Corazzini put Grand Rapids on the board early with a 5-on-3 tally 5:57 into the contest. Mark Cullen faked a shot from the high slot before sliding the puck to Corazzini, who went upstairs on Yann Danis from the left wing.

The lead turned out to be short-lived as a pair of Hamilton goals handed the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead before the first period was over. Marvin Degon struck first, evening the count at 8:32. With just under five minutes remaining, Kyle Chipchura deked around Jason Josza and stuck the puck past the shoulder of Jimmy Howard to give the Bulldogs their first lead.

Darren McCarty gave the Griffins some offense 70 seconds into the middle frame, tipping Josza's shot from the left point past Danis to knot the score at two. At 17:35, however, Hamilton recaptured the lead when Locke snuck behind the Grand Rapids defense and beat Howard to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 edge.

HamiltonBulldogs.com: Hamilton made the score 4-2 at 2:57 of the third period on a power play when Corso notched his fourth marker of the season. Eric Manlow and Locke picked up the assists on the goal.

The Bulldog's added some more insurance at 10:37 of the final frame when Corso potted his second tally of the game and his fourth point of the night to make the score 5-3. Locke also picked up his fourth point of the night with an assist on the play. Corso's goal chased Howard from the Grand Rapids net in favour of Adam Berkhoel.

Grand Rapids responded at 11:57 of the third stanza when Jamie Tardif slipped the puck past Danis to make the score 5-3. The goal, Tardif's 13th of the campaign, was assisted by Evan McGrath and Stafford and rounded out the scoring of the game.

Danis made 20 saves on 23 shots for Hamilton to earn the win, while Howard turned aside 19 shots and suffered the loss. Berkhoel stopped both of the shots he faced in relief of Howard.

Each team went 1-for-4 on the power play.

The Griffins are still without Jonathan Ericsson, Kyle Quincey, and Mark Hartigan, but the Bulldogs weren't exactly feeling sympathetic, as the Hamilton Spectator's Garry McKay notes:

Despite having lost goaltender Jaroslav Halak and centre Mikhail Grabovski to the Montreal Canadiens and with Matt D'Agostini out with the flu, the Bulldogs still had enough in the tank for a 5-3 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Copps Coliseum last night. Yann Danis made 20 saves for Hamilton in what may be the first of many he'll play in a row.

"Yann wasn't overworked but he got enough work to get feeling comfortable in there," said head coach Don Lever.

Danis, who has only started three of the last 17 games, gave up one goal in each period but made a number of solid glove and pad saves when the game was still up for grabs.

"I felt good, maybe not a 100 per cent yet, but the more I play the more my game will get back where it's supposed to be," he said. "I want to get into a rhythm as soon as possible, and we've got three in three coming up."

The post-game multimedia from the Hamilton Bulldogs' website includes a placeholder link for a future photo gallery, but it makes up for that with a 2:06 clip of highlights of all eight goals...And McCarty had a goal and three shots.